Day 5: Nederburg Primary School provides hope

For the past four days at our work site in Plantjies, South Africa, we have been blessed with an abundance of young children who have provided plenty of ‘feet and hands’ to assist in our work. The good news is that these sweet children, from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the region, are more than willing to work hard on a worthwhile project in their community. The bad news?  Many of these kids should be in school, which is supposedly mandatory in the country, unless you live in a neighborhood like Plantjies, which has slipped through many societal cracks.

Great public schools do exist for elementary-aged children in this vast country, and we had the honor of visiting one of them during a field trip to the Nederburg Primary School on Tuesday of this week. Immediately on entering the school grounds, we were warmly greeted by Principal Melville Lawrence, who led us directly into a reception with his school staff. The school is known for its dedicated teachers and faculty, and those qualities were evident throughout the morning as we visited many classrooms and interacted with students from pre-Kindergarten through 7th grade.

Hopewell has supported the Nederburg Primary School through the Beyond the Walls campaign for nearly 10 years. The contributions have been used in various ways by the school’s leadership to supplement the bare-bones funding provided through the South African government. The most recent contribution of $2,500 will be put to good use in the school’s computer center, and possibly renovating Kindergarten classrooms that are in need of repair.

One of the highlights of our visit was a spirited recitation of the Lord’s Prayer in Afrikaans by a 4th grade class. Another was the excitement on the faces of the young boys as they watched 6’5” mission team member Mark Lisowski walk toward them on the school’s playground. It was fun to watch the students walk up to Mark – eager to see how they might measure up – and then laugh as they fell far short.

As we prepared to depart to return to our worksite for the day, one of the school’s most highly-ranked students, a  7th grade girl who Principal Lawrence described as “always radiant,” shared her award winning version of ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ in which the brave and resourceful Red was more than a match for a hapless wolf. The student’s confident and animated recital of her work – without a note to assist her – was the perfect send off for our group, and provided hope that Mosaic’s vision for the Plantjies neighborhood will produce similarly-dedicated students in the future – ready to lead their community to a better place.

I know our 23 member mission crew, which has worked hard throughout our stay in the Paarl Valley, will be praying for similarly bright futures for the wonderful children of Plantjies.
Jamie Ridge